Pulled Pork the Right Way!

Dear BBQ Friend:

What's the best part of the Boston Butt? What pulled pork do you put in your turn in box for BBQ competitions? It's a little confusing because sometimes one butt looks totally different from another.
It all depends on the butcher and how it was cut and how big it is. Then you have bone-in Boston Butts and boneless Boston Butts. If you are a backyard BBQer, you don't have to worry about it too much - you just pull all the meat
off, mix it all together, maybe toss a little sauce on the pulled pork, and start eating. But if you are in a BBQ competition, you have to be a little more careful what you turn in. You want to turn in your best pulled pork!

There is some meat on a Boston Butt that is far superior in taste and tenderness than the rest. Most people call it the "money muscle" because it wins them the paycheck. The "money muscle" is a small strip of loin meat that is opposite
the blade bone side. Most of it is exposed during smoking so it has developed a nice bark. Everyone would agree
that you need to turn in a lot of bark - that's where all the flavor is in pulled pork.

Opposite the "money muscle" is the "horn" or what most people call "the meat under the bone". That's your second choice. Your third choice is called the "tubes" and they are parallel and right behind the "money muscle". All these pieces
of meat can be pulled out whole with your fingers now that you know where they are. They can be placed in the box whole or chopped up into cubes.

Some of these pieces are relatively small compared to the whole Boston Butt, so you may want to consider smoking about 4 butts so you have 4 "money muscles" to place in your turn in box.